


Heartland Incorporated

by m_j_drake



Category: N/A - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24236005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m_j_drake/pseuds/m_j_drake
Summary: Ivy Lareaux's office job is perfectly uninteresting. She’s had enough excitement and tragedy, so that’s fine. Things begin to take a turn when a mysterious stranger enters. She’s not a fan. Her story doesn’t need any more characters. But Ivy simply can’t keep their paths from crossing...





	Heartland Incorporated

Part One  
I worked at Heartland Incorporated. What did I do there? I typed numbers labeled things like “import” and “net net” from emails into spreadsheets. Why? What do they mean? I couldn’t tell you. I had never cared to ask, and I wasn’t sure I would like the answer. I received the numbers, and I typed them. That was all I had known for the four years since I had graduated.  
I have a degree in information systems, whatever that means. I went to my guidance counselor in high school during a low point in my life looking for, well, guidance. After about fourth seconds of voicing my concerns, I was asked adults’ favorite question to ask lost teenagers falling apart; “So, what do you want to do for work?” I shrugged my shoulders as tears welled up in my eyes.  
Did no one care? I know she knew. Everyone knew. Girls I thought were my friends stopped talking to me after, and kids I had never talked to started just walking up to me and asking about the accident. The answer to all of their questions were obvious to me. Icy silence. I’m side tracked. God, it had been nine years, and it’s still all I can think about. Sorry. Back to the guidance counselor.  
She asked me what I wanted to do and I shrugged. What could I do, with a constantly occupied mind and no one willing to listen? Oh, you’re probably wondering what happened. You’re as bad as those kids at school. You barely know me, why do you think you get my story? I’m joking (partially). Patience is a virtue. You’ll learn soon enough.  
So this counselor, we’ll call her Dr. Who-Cares goes “Ooh, you’d be great in information systems!” I now have a vague understanding of what this means, but then? No clue. But there was two weeks until graduation, and i had spent more time staring at walls and laying on the floor than filling out college applications. I took first one Dr WC handed me and got in. Fan-freaking-tastic.  
I wasn’t all that surprised, though. I had made decent grades and was involved in things like model UN for the first three years of high school, and I got the pity I expect for being the sad little orphan girl. I want to meet the person who accepted me into that school. What a tool.  
Anyway, that’s how I got here, sitting in a small office typing numbers, surrounding by dozens of other people in dozens of other offices typing numbers they didn’t care about, eager to go home to their husbands and wives and pets and children. The only differences between us were the minuscule changes from their numbers to mine, and the fact that I had nothing and no one to look forward to going home to.  
I finished my last chart, checked my cheap watch for the umpteenth time, and gathered my things. I thought again of what I had to look forward to when I opened the doors of my bare loft, who I had that made me pine for 5:00. And I came up empty. I was working a meaningless job for faceless millionaire higher-ups, eager to leave to go home just to go again the next day. I boarded the bus empty and alone. Unfortunately, I would not have the luxury of total solitude when I got off.


End file.
